A moment of silence was observed at 2:46 p.m. local time on Monday at various locations where the scars of the disasters still remain.

While most of the debris has been cleared, progress has been extremely slow in redeveloping areas affected following the tsunami-triggered explosion at Fukushima Daicihi nuclear power plant. Read the full story.

Shizuo Kambayashi / AP

Women take part in a moment of silence in front of what is left of a disaster control center in an area devastated by earthquake and tsunami, in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.

Kimimasa Mayama / EPA

Two women take a moment to offer a prayer for the victims killed by the tsunami on the sandy shore at Arahama in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.

Kyodo News via AP

Two pictures of a so-called 'miracle pine tree', on March 27, 2011 (left) and March 11, 2013 (right). The 88-foot-tall tree, a single survivor among 70,000 trees in a forest along the coast in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, has been artificially restored in a project to preserve it.

An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2011.